So here we go! Our first blog.
I guess I should start with some background. I have struggled with being over-weight all my life. I have read all the books, tried all the diets, done all the exercise fads (at one point my mom even started mailing me 90’s workout DVDs). But without fail, within a few months of finishing I would end up being heavier than I was when I started. There always seemed to be a choice between being on a diet or having fun.
To change your body, you must first change your mind
But one Friday evening, in a carb-fueled frenzy I realized the problem – I didn’t really understand calories, let alone know how many calories were in my food. It really should be as simple as eating fewer calories than you burn but unless you always have a set of scales to hand, you really have no idea how many calories you are eating.
I found other diet apps useless because I didn’t really need 1,000,0000 food items to choose from. What I needed was a way to learn what the calories I was eating looked like. And learn it in a really easy way – and also in a way that meant I could have dessert or wine!
So I set out to build an App that could show you exactly what your calories look like. It is founded on the idea that we shouldn’t need to know the exact weight or brand or type of food that we eat. Instead we should be able to be able to estimate how many calories we are eating in each meal just by looking at it.
How it works
So the EatWell ToolKit (EWTK for short!) tries to solve this problem. By dividing your daily calorie target into 10 portions, you can learn to estimate how many calories you are eating. So you can eat whatever you want – but just keep to your 10 portions per day. If you want some alcohol or chocolate – no problems, but just make sure it is included as one (or more!) of your daily ten portions.
There is also going to be trial and error. Some meals you will feel hungry after or you may want to change how you eat your ten portions throughout the day. Make a note of that so that next time you remember to eat more (or eat something more filling). We’ll be adding these functionalities in at a later stage – but for the moment we just want to get going.
I know that the app is not perfect and so please any feedback you have on how we can make this better would be much appreciated.
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